


Emerald Smiles and Silver Thoughts (Good Together Remix)

by flightinflame



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Babies, Charles Xavier has a Ph.D in Adorable, Charles Xavier in a Wheelchair, Domestic Fluff, Erik is a Sweetheart, First Meetings, Fluff, Kidfic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:15:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24777502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame
Summary: Irene said today would be special. When a man bumps his stroller into Charles's wheelchair, spilling his coffee, things change forever.
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier, Lorna Dane & Charles Xavier, Lorna Dane & Erik Lehnsherr
Comments: 16
Kudos: 112
Collections: X-Men Remix 2020





	Emerald Smiles and Silver Thoughts (Good Together Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [friendlyneighbourhoodteacakes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/friendlyneighbourhoodteacakes/gifts).



> For OfBrothersandTeacakes.  
> Thank you to my beta!
> 
> A prequel to Good Together, with a couple of differences.
> 
> Warning for a small mention of baby-vomit.

Charles sat in his favourite cafe, flicking through some of the latest scientific journals on his iPad, and trying to ignore the incredibly smug phone-call he'd had with his sister-in-law that morning. The kind of smug phone call of 'I know something that you don't know, and it's going to change everything, and you won't know what it is until later', that you only ever had to deal with from precogs.

The phone call from Irene had meant that he was distracted, no matter how much he tried to ignore it. She'd hinted that something life-changing was about to happen, and he couldn't imagine what. That didn't stop him trying to guess, though. He took a sip of coffee, and nearly spat it out when he realised how cold it had gotten while he’d sat there, unable to concentrate.

He groaned impatiently, wheeling back from the table, to grab himself another coffee, tucking his iPad under his sensationless leg. He was almost back at his still-empty spot, when someone knocked into him, sending the coffee out from his hand and spilling down his front and onto his legs. He cursed in pain, grabbing some tissues from a table and starting to mop up the mess before it caused blisters or worse.

He was still dabbing at his clothing frantically when he heard a baby giggle, and then someone cleared their throat. Reluctantly, deeply embarrassed, he lifted his head and found an utterly handsome man staring down at him with a vaguely concerned expression.

"Are you alright?" the man asked, moving to scoop his little girl out of her pushchair, where she was trying to make a grab for the wheels of Charles's chair. "Lorna –" As he picked her up, Charles found himself faced with an adorable little giggling infant, no older than six months, with a shock of green curls. The man – her father, presumably – bounced her in his arms. "I'm so sorry, she – "

"No, I'm sorry," Charles murmured. He could feel the other man's concern, and his guilt. He was tired, he hadn't been paying attention – this was his first time out with Lorna and he was mentally beating himself up for managing to hurt someone, and now Lorna might be in trouble or – 

Charles cleared his throat, cutting through the concern. "It was my fault, please don't worry about it."

The sheer relief from the other man was dizzying, and Charles tried not to let himself look too deeply at the man's thoughts and discover why. The man deserved better than that. Instead, he smiled, glancing around the crowded cafe. "The two of you can sit at my table if you'd like."

"Thank you." The man looked so happy to see his mutant child being accepted, and that confirmed to Charles he'd made the right choice. The man cleared his throat. "I insist I buy you a new coffee, though. If that's alright?"

"That'd be good," Charles agreed, finishing the distance to his table, and wondering if this could have been the cause of Irene's warning. "I'm Charles."

"Erik. And this little bundle of trouble is Lorna."

"Hello, Erik; hello, Lorna," Charles greeted them, utterly adoring little Lorna who was gurgling contentedly to herself and reaching out to everything in reach. Her father smiled shyly. 

"Hello, Charles. What can I get for you?"

"I don't suppose you could get me a tea? English Breakfast, if you wouldn't mind. After my coffee attacked me I'd rather have something I trust to behave."

The smile on Erik's lips was beautiful, and he hurried off to do that, leaving Charles with the pram as he picked Lorna up into his arms.

Erik returned after a short while, a tray held impossibly in one hand as the other held his daughter. He sat down, bouncing his infant gently in his arms, before stroking his fingers through wispy emerald curls.

"If you don't mind me saying so, her mutation is beautiful."

Charles could feel the prickle in Erik's mind at those words, his brief spike of anger, his desire to argue, but after a split-second he registered the words were a compliment. His entire expression changed, becoming peaceful and somehow yet more handsome.

"Thank you. I think so." There was a slight tinge of pain to his voice, but he smiled and handed Charles his tea.

Charles hesitated for a moment, painfully aware that what he would be saying next was probably not welcome news to an overly protective parent. But a lifetime of cruel attitudes and rejections had led to Charles being in the habit of either explaining at the start, or concealing his telepathy as long as he could. Today, it was honesty that won out. "Just so that you are aware, I am a mutant myself."

"Oh?" Erik asked, fussing with his daughter and then smiling. "I am – "

"A telekinetic? I saw how you were balancing that tray."

"A metallokinetic," Erik answered, lifting Charles's spoon. "Which makes me crashing into you even more embarrassing, really." 

"It's forgotten," Charles promised, bracing himself. He liked Erik, and his tiny little daughter, but he knew that once he explained about himself, he could well be treated with hatred or worse. He cleared his throat.

"I am a telepath."

Over the years, Charles had grown used to a number of responses to that. Arousal, terror, hatred. Even mutants who claimed to support mutant rights had been horrified to learn what he was, while he'd known others who heard that and only thought of how he could be of help to them. He didn't let his thoughts linger on either group. Instead, he watched Erik. There was no fear there, no shame or concern that somehow Charles posed a threat now that he had not held a moment before. It wasn't desire either, in Erik's eyes.

It was admiration.

"Is... Is everything alright?" Charles tried, and Erik smiled and nodded.

"It is. I'm sorry, I find telepathy interesting, I have a friend who shares your gift, and I know the hatred she faces for it. If you don't mind me saying, I think the prejudice faced by telepaths is...simply wrong. Your gift is as natural and intrinsic to you as mine is to me, and yet no one aside from a few extremists would dream of telling me not to move metal." There was something in the way Erik spoke that suggested this was an old argument, one that he'd had countless times over the years and which still didn't have the right answer. "You shouldn't have to hide yourself." 

"That is kind of you to say, my friend." Charles smiled to himself, taking another sip of tea, and looking at the handsome man beside him. "You seem nervous."

"It's my first time out with her," Erik answered. "And I feel like everyone is staring, that everyone sees her and notices her hair and hates her. And I know that isn't true, but – "

"But you worry." Charles agreed, closing his eyes and scanning across the cafe. "Most of them noticed, but only a couple want her to leave, none of the staff, and they won't try anything. One student is thinking how nice it is to see her out, and that she hopes it'll catch on."

"Thank you," Erik visibly relaxed. "I know it's foolish, I can defend myself but – "

"But you shouldn't have to. You're talking about a baby barely what...five months?"

"Six, but she's small for her age," Erik supplied, bouncing her again in his arms and causing a few more happy gurgles to slip from her lips. He sighed to himself.

"You're raising her alone?"

"I have to." Erik answered, brushing at her hair absent-mindedly. "Her mother, Susanna, she knew I was a mutant, but she liked...to act as though I wasn't. And I... I was foolish, and smitten with her. And then we had Lorna... She took one look at her, newlyborn and trying to cry for a feed, and..." The words faded, but Erik projected the memory.

A woman seeing green hair and blaming Erik, telling him he was ruining her daughter's life; that she wanted nothing to do with it; that she wasn't raising a mutie. He saw Erik's memory of being left in the hospital with a newborn baby, without his partner, and knowing he would have to change everything. Erik who had always believed in mutant rights, but now threw himself into those arguments. Erik who had spent six months trying to look after his daughter and make the world a better place for her to grow up in.

"Thank you for showing me," Charles said politely. "That's why you were so nervous when you bumped into me?"

"I don't want to cause a scene in case people hurt her," Erik answered. "I've met a few people with visible mutations now. It's hard, and I worry about what her future will be like."

"Better than you think, I believe." Charles smiled, holding out his spoon for little Lorna to grab at. "Because while I agree with you about the human capacity for maliciousness, I feel you forget they are also capable of love. And Lorna is a good child. All I can feel from her mind is contentedness and curiosity. You have done more for her than you know. She might not have much awareness yet, but she has absolute certainty that her father loves her."

"I do," Erik answered, and there was such devotion in his eyes that Charles could feel his heart melting. Had he not already found Erik handsome, his protectiveness would have been endearing. As it was, Charles suddenly realised just how much he could fall for the other man.

He cursed mentally as he suddenly understood this was exactly what Irene had foreseen. A handsome man and an infant daughter, both mutants, the man intelligent and passionate – their first meeting, and Charles already suspected he was in love. It was hard not to fall for Erik's looks, but there was so much more to him, and Charles looked forward to learning all that there was to discover about him.

Lorna was starting to fuss, so Erik sighed and picked her up.  
"I should head off."

"Of course. I can't keep you..." Charles paused. "Could I give you my number? Just in case you ever want to talk to another mutant."

"That'd be good." Erik held out his phone, with a frankly remarkable adjustment of Lorna in his arms. "Maybe we can do this again some time."

Charles gazed up at the two of them and nodded. "I'd like that very much indeed."

***

It had been three days before Erik had called, full of apologies – apparently he'd managed to break his phone in an argument with someone about registering Lorna for a doctor's, and since then he'd been trying to reconstruct Charles's number from memory and research. He'd finally found the right number, and asked Charles out for dinner, with the caveat that he wasn't sure he wanted to get a sitter for Lorna yet.

Charles had agreed instantly, delighted at the idea of meeting with Erik and his darling little girl again. Erik had let him pick the restaurant, thankfully, so they were going to one that wasn't too expensive, and was accessible so that he didn't need to worry about awkwardness or being unable to get inside.

On the phone call, he had heard Lorna giggling away to herself, and he found himself smiling at the thought of the two of them as he went about his day. Erik seemed like the kind of man who wanted to pretend that he was tough; that he was invincible. But he was bouncing his daughter on his knee, and laughing as though holding her close was the most precious thing in the world. That was the true Erik, the one that Charles longed to learn more about.

Charles knew that his mother and step-father would have things to say about him getting involved with a man like Erik. He was rather amused by the idea of their reactions. Anyway, he'd moved on from their hold. It hadn't been easy, turning his back on everything, but he was freer now. The only part of his family he was still in contact with was Raven and her wife. Although he was tempted to stop being in contact with Irene given how unbearably smug she sounded on the telephone when he mentioned his date.

He pulled on his smartest blazer, and a pale blue shirt that Raven had once said went well with his eyes, and made his way to the restaurant. He ended up getting there twenty minutes early, waiting awkwardly, aware of the pitying looks he was getting. He caught the thought of one person wondering if he needed money. He moved on before they tried anything, face heating in embarrassment. He was more smartly dressed than most of the people here, and they still... He swallowed down his anger and frustration as he felt Erik's mind approaching. He had only shared one conversation with the other man, but his mind already felt familiar. If Charles had been the poetic sort, he would have said that it felt like home.

Erik approached, Lorna again in the pushchair she had been using on their first meeting. Erik didn't falter as he made his way through the crowds, and Charles realised with a faint smile that Erik was probably tracking his chair, using it to guide him over. Erik grinned to see him, his face breaking out into a shark-like smile.

"Charles! You made it."

"It's good to see you both," Charles grinned up at them. Erik wasn't dressed quite as smartly as he was, but he still looked nice, and little Lorna had been put in a beautiful green dress with a white ribbon around the waist. It matched her hair. "You two look wonderful."

"You're not so bad yourself," Erik smirked, following Charles into the restaurant, stowing the pram, and taking a seat as they were shown to the table. "I'm sorry again, I hadn't meant to take so long to call you. I just... The doctors said they weren't able to care for mutant children… She's not – I mean, aside from her hair being green, it's not like she's..." He shook his head.

"I know some mutant-friendly doctors," Charles said with a slight twitch of his lips. "Not paediatricians, I'm afraid, but I'm sure they'll be able to recommend someone. It isn't fair. But...I am glad you managed to contact me anyway."

"I was so relieved I found your number. I was beginning to consider going back to that coffee shop and asking if I could put up a poster or something..." Erik laughed. The meal passed quickly. It turned out they had a lot to talk about, and even if it didn't always agree, they at least enjoyed each other's company. 

Charles couldn't help thinking it was probably the best date he had been on. Dessert was a wonderful chocolate cake, and Erik insisted on paying. Just before leaving, Erik asked Charles if he could hold Lorna, just while he went to use the bathroom. Charles agreed, gazing down at Lorna with affection, noticing how her hair matched her eyes, and yet there were so many of her features that looked like her father’s. He cuddled her, and when she whimpered he lifted her onto his shoulder, feeling her discomfort. He patted her back gently with a few fingers.

She coughed, and then was sick against his jacket. He could feel her relief, returning to happiness and curiosity at the world, while he tried to not look too horrified.

Erik came back from the bathroom and immediately realised what had happened. 

"Shit..." He grabbed Lorna back, staring at Charles in shock. "I am so sorry."

"These things happen."

"Do you want to go back to mine to clean up?" Erik asked, mind radiating a sense of mortification. "I am so...so sorry."

"Erik," Charles sighed, dabbing at his blazer with a napkin. "She's a baby. Babies are sick sometimes." He swallowed, considering. "Is it... Could I get in?"

"We've got a ground floor maisonette," Erik answered. "And I've put metal rails in the shower and bath in case my mother visits, so...I think you'd be alright. You can look – " He indicated his head, and then thought very clearly and logically about each of the rooms in his house in turn. 

Charles watched, considering, and nodded. "I can use that. Thank you. You are very talented with telepathy."

Erik's lips twitched in a faint smile, and he helped Lorna back into her pram, leading Charles the short distance to his apartment. Charles was relieved to see he'd at least be able to get in through the front door. He followed Erik inside, seeing a home that was mostly neat, aside from where a baby had had her influence.

"I can wash that jacket for you," Erik offered, and Charles handed over his blazer. Erik smiled brightly. "Would you like some tea? I bought some specially."

Charles grinned. "Was this all your evil plan from the start? Teach Lorna to be sick on me so that I came home with you?"

"Not intentionally, although now that you mention it, it seems a wonderful idea. Good girl, Lorna." Erik placed the little girl down carefully on a play mat, before he went to brew some tea. Charles watched her fondly, and when Erik returned with the hot drink, they began to talk. 

The talking continued until 3 am, when Erik had fallen asleep on the sofa. Charles placed a blanket over him, smiling fondly, and trying not to listen when his thoughts told him he could get used to this.

***

One date soon became many more, and Erik even hired a babysitter for a couple of evenings, so that the two of them could have some alone time. Erik had called the babysitter from Charles's bed to check Lorna was alright, but Charles had understood. It was a sign of how much Erik loved him that he was willing to be parted from his daughter at all. And Erik had been full of praise for how well Miss Pryde had looked after his daughter, so that meant he felt safe leaving her with the teenager the next time they wanted some alone time.

Erik asked Charles to stay over the next weekend, and Charles accepted. He wanted that –wanted time with Erik and with his daughter. They were laying in bed, Erik's arm thrown across Charles’s chest, and Erik smiled.

"Lorna really likes you, Charles," Erik murmured, drowsy with sleep. "She gets so excited when we see you."

"I'm glad," Charles answered, and he was. "I like her too."

"She'd miss you if we didn't see each other," Erik admitted, and Charles nodded and cuddled him close. 

"Don't worry, I'm not going to abandon either of you."

Erik laughed, but Charles could feel his relief.

***

"Char!" Lorna babbled excitedly, waving her pudgy hands at the phone that Erik was holding up. 

"Hi, sweetie. Hi, Erik." Charles smiled. "What do you need me to get for the picnic?"

Erik reeled off a frankly alarming list of picnic supplies, given it was just the three of them. Charles didn't object. The picnic had been his idea – the weather was finally improving, and he liked the idea of going out somewhere nice, just the three of them.

He wheeled his way down the aisles, a basket balanced in his lap, searching out the exact brand of mustard he knew Erik preferred, and grabbing a mixture of things. 

There was a display of cuddly toys, and his gaze was caught by a little green fish plushie. He approached, picking it up and turning it over in his hands, checking the label to make sure it was suitable for Lorna's age. It was soft, and the tail and fins made a satisfyingly crinkly noise when moved. He added it to the basket.

Later, at the picnic, Erik looked at the fish and sighed, while Lorna squealed and hugged it to her chest.

"You spoil her," Erik warned, as though he didn't dote on the little girl just as much.

"She's worth spoiling." Charles shrugged. "And she's happy."

"You..." Erik seemed to run out of words, leaning in to kiss him. _You know we love you whether or not you buy us things, don't you?_

Charles pulled away, his eyes comically wide. "What?"

"I..." Erik frowned, then seemed to register what it was that had surprised him. "Oh. I mean. I do. We do. Love you, I mean. Is that alright?"

Charles fought down a laugh and nodded, reaching out for Erik's hand. 

"It's more than alright, Erik. I love you too."

Erik smiled, and leaned in for a kiss, and stopped complaining about the green fish-toy, so Charles felt the picnic was rather successful all around.

***

Charles smiled, looking forward to another date. He just had to finish marking some work.here were no more classes between him and the peaceful end of the day. And then he and Erik were returning to the restaurant they'd been to for their first meal, without Lorna this time. He turned over another paper when his phone buzzed. 

He looked down at the screen, and felt concern twist in his chest.  
_Lorna’s sick :( Could we rearrange tonight? Promise I’ll make it up to you x_

_I don’t want to leave her with the sitter like this._

He could help. He knew Erik wouldn't cancel if it wasn't important, and he wanted to be there for them. He replied quickly.

_Of course. Is everything okay? I hope she isn’t too unwell. Do you need anything? x_


End file.
